6 comments:

I, too, struggled yesterday, thinking I would not last the course - and I was only trying to put down a haiku!As for your poem (the verses of which have a Haiku feel about them, I think), if that is the result, then maybe you should hope for a struggle every day! The first verse I found stunning, the second also, in part by its contrast to the first... and so it went on. For a one day poem... I don't use superlatives, but almost you compel me to!

back when i used to do creative writng classes one of the things we used to do was speed writing, the idea being to get people writing as opposed to thinking about writing! we used all sort of methods from pictures to found objects to puicking random words from the dictionary. being put in a position where you have to write pushesyour boundaries, gets you out of the safe zone of your writing, challenges your creative palette and opens up new possibilities.

keep at it. it's worth it, it's only a month and you'll have thirty new poems to play with

Sometimes the struggly days do produce the more interesting results I think. I like the apples and the heads above water. Good luck with the month. Not for me this kind of thing...just the mention of writing exercises or writing classes or writing projects has me running for the hills with my hands tied behind my back and no pencils in my pocket! But you seem to be doing well.

i don't think speed writing is ever something you're going to get good results at, though you cansometimes get surprised. nor is it something that you might want to be dong all the time. but gettig nito the habit of it is a bti like sketching - you get all the information down in your sketchpad/notepad really quickly, then you can store it away really quickly

and while i can seewhere rachael's coming from at the same time i think practise,which is what it is, is like exercise, it sharpens you up, hones the instincts.

thanks rachel, I'm beginning to wonder why I thought this was a good idea!

swiss, do you mean automatic writing - I produce nothing worthwhile when I try this, just doesn't work for me

I heard about NaPoWriMo through the poetry-free-for-all online workshop where dozens of people are doing it, I decided to blog it rather than post them at the forum, rob mackenzie's doing a very interesting series of 30 installments of a long poem at it which is worth a look

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